A Fife dealer caught with 48,000 street Valium pills after two police raids in Methil less than four months apart has been jailed for two years.
Jon Cassidy was busted supplying the drugs from a lock-up garage in Turner Crescent and a flat he was renting in High Street.
The potential combined street value of the class C tablets was more than £32,000.
Cassidy, formerly of Croft Crescent, Markinch, appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court for sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of etizolam.
Cannabis debt
Defence lawyer Steven Gleeson told the court Cassidy was in a severe accident many years ago and suffered pain as a consequence.
The solicitor said: “His main drug of choice was cannabis with a view to self-medicate the pain and this led to him getting into drugs debt”.
Mr Gleeson said Cassidy used the lock-up and his flat to store the etizolam with a view to clearing the debt.
The lawyer said his client was not living in the flat at the time but was renting it to a tenant who was unaware of the drugs stashed there.
Garage tip-off
Prosecutor Christine Allan told the court previously that in the early hours of July 8 2020 police received an anonymous call from a male stating he had left the lock-up open.
He told officers that inside was a car containing a holdall with a large quantity of drugs in it.
He said and the drugs had come from Glasgow and belonged to Cassidy.
Police arrived to find a white Ford RS Escort with a holdall in the rear footwell containing three polythene sacks of white tablets.
Prescribed medication in Cassidy’s name was also found in the lock-up space.
Officers subsequently received another anonymous call from the same male stating the same thing.
The fiscal depute said officers traced an individual who intimated he had been “doing jobs for Jon Cassidy” which he was uncomfortable with.
There were found to be an estimated 27,845 etizolam tablets with a potential street value between £5,645 and £18,560.
More drugs found
On the morning of October 30 2020 another drugs search warrant was carried out at an address in the High Street, Lower Methil.
Officers recovered 20,357 etizolam tablets with a potential street value between £4,110 and £13,570.
Sets of scales were found, as well as a letter with Cassidy’s name on it and his DNA was retrieved from one of the bags of etizolam.
The court heard Cassidy has a previous conviction for being concerned in the supply of drugs but this was accepted by prosecutors as not for commercial reasons.
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